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Look at this e-bay auction!

Clint

Stay chooned in for more!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws....y=20520

i was looking for water plants for a new 90 gal tank, and i found this auctions. it seems odd how all his plants just "happen" to grow in a field like that and she just "happens" to own all those plants.

what do you guys think? that looks fishy to me.
 
The photos suggest wild collected plants. However, one of the biggest flaws in the laws protecting carnivorous plants, the land owners can do what they want with the plants on their land. I would avoid buying such plants as there are plenty of nursery grown plants in the world today. Gone is the time that Sarracenia only came from field collecting. Today tissue culture and seed grown plants are common place.

I would suggest not sending rude emails to the seller. At this time we do not know if the plants in the mentioned auction are field collected. The photos could be simply for reference. I will be sending a message asking more about the plants being sold. I will let everyone know what the response is.


[Edited by Nick Hubbell on 7/2/2003 8:28AM EST]
Not including the above ebay auction, has anyone else noticed that more and more cps on ebay are being photographed bare root? I find it odd that someone would pull plants out of the pots to photograph the root systems before selling the plants. This stresses the plants more than is needed. I have seen several auctions for venus flytraps and the seller has the actual plant out of the soil to photograph. Today I noticed at least 5 different auctions for various Sarracenia that have the plants out of the soil. I know people ship bare root plants, but I would think the plant would be bare rooted closer to shipment.

Now a comment on ebay plants:

Ebay is not the best place to find plants for sale. No one knows the true origin of the plants being sold. Hybrid plants such as S. wrigleyana, S. Judith Hindle, Red Dragons, Dente, etc are from tissue culture or divisions, we know this because they do not grow in the wild. Nepenthes and other plants that do not grow native in the United States are also plants that are somewhat safer to buy. However, species of Sarracenia and common venus flytraps are very questionable. If you look at the locations of the sellers, you can get a good idea towards the origins of the plants. For instance, if you find someone selling common venus flytraps and they are located in North Carolina, it would be a very good idea to avoid that auction unless you know the plants were cultivated in a nursery. Another drawback to buying plants on ebay is that if you shop around at various online nurseries, you will find that the plants can be had for less than those on ebay and with lower shipping costs.

Observations on sellers:

Not all ebay sellers are selling poached plants. There are several nurseries that do sell on ebay and they are reputable nurseries. I have also seen plants being sold by members of the ICPS.
 
You beat me to it but I was gonna say that the pictures may be just to show what they look like in the wild or he/she doesn't have a picture of the plants on sale.

An e-mail just to ask of their origin would be an idea without being rude.
 
i didn't send them any mail.

i've seen S. Flavas in the wild, in the FL panhandle. i looked everywhere and i only saw about 50 TOTAL!!! i never saw more than 20 or so in one place. and out of all of them only one had a developind seed pod.

not to mention i only saw a dozen drosera there, in 1 clump.
 
I added to my original post and I have sent a message to the seller. The auction ends in about 8 hours. It is unlikely that I will be able to read a reply before I get home from work.
 
I'm going to send this person an email. I'll post a return if I get one.
 
Nick I have bought S. flavas frm this person before and last time she was selling the plants she said I couldn't find any pictures of the plant so I found this wich is a representative of the plant. The plant that I got was almost the same in size but didn't look at all like it was field collected.
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But ones I bought a S. flava from ebay as well it was field collected
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and I sent the person an e-mail that it is illegal to field collect and I got double monry back for the plant.
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And thought them a leason not to field collect.
 
I noticed it says you get "a clump" of the plant. That doesn't sound good. And it doesn't sound cultivated.
 
S.flava clumps very easily. I have had single rhizomes divided into 5-8 rhizomes over the course of a year, so I would not be surprised if they were sold in "clumps"(more than one rhizome).
The pictures of the plant in its habitat is somewhat suspicious, but there might be a good reason for showing these pictures as suggested by Nolu.
 
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